Map Critique: Austin Music Map
INTRODUCTION
The “Austin Music Map” is an interactive media map that documents some of Austin’s “official” and “unofficial” music venues, as well as the people, traditions and culture behind the music.
The project is part of the Localare, a media production by The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), which supported ten year-long multimedia projects at 10 public radio and television stations across the country. The projects explored diverse topics ranging from Chinese takeout joins in Boston to the oil rigs of North Dakota through photography, audio, video, and crowd-sourced media. Each of the ten projects that comprise Localore are presented on a map, although the “Austin Music Map” is the only project that is primarily presented through a map itself. The project is a collaboration between producer Delaney Hall, KUTX public radio in Austin, and Zeega who developed and build the digital map.
I decided to focus on this particular map for my critique because I think it an ambitious and well-executed attempt at interactive, multimedia storytelling (although it should be noted that it is a very well-funded project, as the line-up of logos representing foundations and institutions on the footer of the Localore site clearly indicates). Nonetheless, I’m still very inspired by these projects, and think there is much to be learned from their attempt at interactive. One of the main challenges I am facing as I begin thinking about my own map is how to select and compellingly present a variety of media – Google Glass footage, documents, audio, images, video – to help illustrate my arguments, so I really wanted to focus on a rich multimedia map.
MAP OVERVIEW
Upon arriving on the front page of the Austin Music Map, the user is invited to “Play the City” by hovering over points on the map to discover music and venues all over Austin. An ambient soundtrack plays in the background, with short snippets of the mapped music, voices and applause fading in and out, providing a glimpse of the music that comprises the “playlists,” which are one of the primary modes for navigating the site. Atop a gray map of the city with a bright fuchsia stream indicating the river that runs through Austin appear orange and blue dots, marking music and venues to be explored. A key on the bottom of the map indicates that orange dots are “KUTX features” and blue dots are part of the “community mix.” By clicking once on a point, the map reveals the “playlists” associated with that particular location, and provides a visual preview. The user can then click into one of the specific playlists, or choose to go back to the map.
Once a specific playlist is selected, the user is shown an intermediary screen, which reveals the name of the location, the playlists associated with it, as well relevant hashtags for Flickr, Instagram, Soundcloud, YouTube andother social media platforms.
Once the user is on the page for a specific venue, they are presented with a playlist in the top left corner, which includes both KUTX features, as well as community mix. There is an option to toggle between the KUTX features, and remixed community audio and visuals. The main visual on the screen are large photos or videos, which take up most of the screen, contributing to the “immersive” experience of the Austin Music Map. The photos are sourced from Flickr, and users can read a caption in the bottom left corner about the artist/event, venue and photographer, and scroll through the photos using arrows on the right and left of the screen, or through a preview thumbnails in the bottom right corner (which also link out to the original content).
Finally, in the top right corner, under the “Participate” tab, users are invited to “help build the map” and “lead us to corners of the city we never would have known about before” by taking a picture or recording sound to share some of the city’s “best kept musical secrets.” There is an option to record a story right then and there on the site using SoundCloud, as well as a phone number to call and share a story. There is also information provided to add photos and sounds via social media platforms, including details about which hashtags to use, adding zipcode for geolocation, and providing other tags for context. Information on the page indicates that the Austin Media Map staff will review content in “about 24 hours—sometimes a little longer on the weekends.” (Because I didn’t have any relevant media accessible to share, I wasn’t able to test out this feature, though I may have some SXSW audio/video/photos collecting dust on a hard drive somewhere that I may try to submit in the future).
MAP CRITIQUE
“The structuring of memory is especially problematic for GIS and other new technologies. Memory is essential for our identity, whether as individuals or as a society, but it remains troublesome as evidence because it is always informed by what has happened in the interim between an event and the act of recall.” (David J. Bodenhamer, 26).
Obviously, this map is not an exhaustive attempt to depict every musical experience in Austin — considered by many “the live musical capitol of the world.” As Delaney Hall, the producer behind the project explains in this NPR interview, “We’re looking for stories about the ways music brings people together, the way it’s used to celebrate and commemorate, the way it carries important cultural traditions forward through time.” The purpose of the map is to depict culture and experience, which like “memory” (referenced in the quote above) is something that is difficult to “map.” I think the wide array of media used in this map helps to provide some of the texture of memory and experience in a beautiful and effective way. Although we are not there experiencing the music ourselves, this map attempts to immerse us in the media of music, temporarily transporting the user to some of the official and unofficial music venues in Austin.
Similarly, as we’ve been discussing all semester and as many including Dennis Wood have pointed out, “The map is not a picture…It is an argument … everything about a map, from top to bottom, is an argument.” Many of the “presentation codes” (Dennis Wood, The Power of Maps) — specifically editorial, design, curatorial choices — help to evoke a rich sensorial experience. For example, the main “record type” is a “playlist,” which is obviously quite fitting for the theme. There is little contextualizing information on the map, encouraging the user to explore by “listening” and “looking,” as one might at a live music show. I also appreciate all the attempts to invite user-participation in order to make the map “interactive.” I think the map makers did a nice job of including this content in an artful way that is consistent with the overall style and tone of the map.
“Mapping is neither secondary not representational but doubly operative: digging, finding and exposing on the one hand, and relating, connecting and structuring on the other” (James Corner, 225).
Although I do have some more “critical” comments about the overall navigational experience and contextual information provided (and not provided) on the map, I think this map makes a good attempt at “digging, finding and exposing” and also “relating, connecting and structuring,” as is pointed out in the James Corner quote above. In addition to the editorial and curatorial choices made by the producers of this map, they have attempted to create “links” between the media and music presented on the map. Many locations have multiple playlists, including a range of musical genres. Once a user is playing a particular playlist, the SoundCloud widget suggests “Related Playlists” which provide another way of immersing oneself in the map. Users can easily toggle between “community mixes” and KUTX content. All of these choices and features help to reveal connections between the diverse array of music and media presented on the map.
“Spaces are not simply the setting to historical action but are a significant product and determinant of change” (David J. Bodenhamer, 16).
As I alluded to above, my main “criticism” of this map is that it could provide a little bit more contextual information, with an emphasis on “text.” It becomes clear quite quickly, that the map is really a media map with very little words aside from basic information identifying the media, basic information about the project, and how to participate. While I do think this was a conscious decision in an attempt to really privilege the rich sensory media that makes up the map, I personally found myself wanting just a little bit more context. For example, another blog review I read of the project was headlined, “Austin Music Map explores the blues roots — and changing culture — of the East Side.” However, upon viewing the map, there was nothing that would indicate this cultural significance to someone like me who is relatively unfamiliar with both the city as well as the broader socio-political context. I think that there could have been a little bit more contextual information that would have helped to hint at some of these themes, without weighing down the map with too much text or information.
I also wish that there might have been another way of navigating the site, perhaps in a slightly more linear fashion. While I do think that this was an intentional decision by the map makers, I think that it might end up turning away some potential users who simply couldn’t “figure it out” right away, and might get frustrated and turn away.
PROTOTYPE
In thinking about how to apply some of the best practices of the Austin Music Map to my own project, I think my main takeaway is to really consider how to best artfully and effectively integrate media into my own map. While I did find myself wanting a little bit more context, I really did appreciate that the user was first immersed into the captivating audio and visuals that help to set the scene and mood of the project. For me, I think this will mean really limiting the media that I use in my own map (which is a challenge for a digital hoarder and over-documenter like me) so just include the most representational, evocative and compelling examples and excerpts. Especially with regard to the “internal constructions” of identity, I am attempting to depict the various ways of “being a Muslim,” and this is something that I would really like to “show” rather than “tell.” (Here is my rough attempt at a prototype in URT!)
And here is a rough attempt at a prototype more in the style of the Austin Music Map.
It also got me thinking about how to draw connections between my map so that it is possible for the user is deeply immersed in the content, and can navigate from point-to-point between various records, rather than always reverting back to main map to select a new point. Because I’m still in the data collection/documentation mode, I’m not entirely sure how I will do this, but it is something I will continue thinking about as I keep working.